Griphole carrying bag of heat-sealable material



1mb 711 WW A. scHwARzKoPF B@ GRIPHOLE CARRYING BG OF HEAT-SEALABLE MATERIAL Filed Aug. ll, 1965 fm/enfer @uguali Sch warzkop United States Patent O asumen V GRIPHGLE CARRYING BAG F HEAT-SEALABLE MATERiAL August Schwarzkopf, Lengerich, Germany, assigner to Windmolier & Hulscher, Lengerich, Germany Filed Aug. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 478,948 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 30, 1964,

W 34,038 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-54) This invention relates to a griphole carrying bag consisting of heat-scalable material and having walls which are provided with reinforcing elements of heat-scalable plastics material adjacent to the gripholes.

Such griphole carrying bags in which the reinforcing elements are heat-sealed to the inside or outside of the bag are known. The wall thickness of these griphole carrying bags is suitably 3/100 to 1/10 mm., preferably about 7/100 mm., whereas the thickness of the reinforcing elements is generally at leastl 3 mm. so that these elements do not excessively bite into the ngers which carry the bag in filled condition.

As the carrying bags are usually given by the retail stores or department houses to their customers free of charge, the manufacture of these bags in a satisfactory quality should be simple and inexpensive.

The manufacture of griphole carrying bags is difficult because parts which differ greatly in thickness must be bonded by heat-sealing. The heat for sealing must be transferred to the interface through one of the parts to be bonded. To minimize the time required for the heat transfer, it is usual in the manufacture of the known griphole carrying bags to transfer the heat for sealing through the thin sheeting. In the manufacture of griphole carrying bags with internal reinforcing elements bonded by heat sealing, the heat for sealing must be transferred from the outside to the walls of the carrying bag. This can be effected with a relatively simple apparatus. On the other hand, griphole carrying bags having reinforcing elements heat-sealed to the inside surface of the bag are not so desirable as griphole carrying bags having reinforcing elements heat-sealed to the outside surface of the bag because the former are not so neat in appearance as the griphole edges of the bag material are visible and because they can be made in a fully mechanized operation only in the form of a side seam bag which is fiat or has a bottom fold.

Griphole carrying bags with reinforcing elements heatsealed to the outside surface of the bag may be made as a side seam bag with or without bottom fold or as a bottom seam bag with or without side folds. To manufacture these griphole carrying bags in the manner described hereinbefore, the heat for sealing must be transferred to the walls of the carrying bag from the inside. This step would require a relatively complicated apparatus and for this reason has not been adopted in practice. In the manufacture of these griphole carrying bags the heat for sealing has been transferred to the interfaces through the reinforcing element. This practice requires much time and energy.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a griphole carrying bag which has external reinforcing elements adjacent to the gripholes and for this reason has a pleasing appearance, whereas the reinforcing elements can be bonded by heat sealing without need for the previously necessary, uneconomical consumption of time and energy, so that all types of griphole carrying bags can be made in a simple, fast and inexpensive process without need for complicated and expensive apparatus.

Based on a griphole carrying bag which consists of heat-scalable material and has walls which are provided with external reinforcing ele/ments of heat-scalable matejo'ins said transverse -portion `and in which the thickness` of theelement is substantially smaller than the maximum of said dimension.

In view of the fact that the reinforcing elements mayv have a dimension, eg., of 3 mm. at right angles to the bag walls, the thickness of the heat-sealed portion may be, e.g., 1/10 mm. to 1/5 mm.

The design of the reinforcing elements according to `the invention enables griphole carrying bags having reinforcing` elements heat-sealed to the outside surface of the bag to be manufactured just as fast and inexpensively as the known griphole carrying bags having reinforcing elements heat-sealed to the inside surface of the bag, and with machines which are just as simple as those used for the manufacture of the latter bags. As has been mentioned hereinbefore, such bags having external reinforcing elements are preferable to those having internal reinforcing elements because they have an improved appearance and enable a fully mechanized manufacture also of bags other than those formed with side seams.

Two embodiments of the novel griphole carrying bag will now be described in detail and by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. l is an elevation showing the top half of a griphole carrying bag according to a first embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional View taken on line Il--II of FIG. 1,

FG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and shows the top half of a griphole carrying bag according to a second embodiment ofthe invention, and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line IV-IV of FIG. 3.

The griphole carrying bag which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a section 1 of a flattened tube of synthetic thermoplastic material. The lower end of the section is not shown and is closed by a heat-sealed seam. The top end of the section defines the filling opening. Close to this end, a griphole 4 or 5 is formed in each of the bag walls 2 and 3. Each bag wall is provided on the outside with a reinforcing element 6 or 7 adjacent to its griphole. According to the present invention, the reinforcing elements are channel-shaped. The web 8 of each channel forms a heat-sealed portion and is heatsealed to the rim of a griphole 4 or 5.

The design of the reinforcing elements according to the invention comprising a special heat-sealed portion enables a simple and fast transfer of heat for sealing from the outside through this portion to the interface without a substantial loss of energy. Adjacent to the grip of the bag, the outside surface of the flange 9 of each of the reinforcing elements 6 and 7, which may bc endless, forms a nger-engageable surface, which extends at right angles to the bag walls 2, 3 and is so large that the reinforcing elements will not bite into the fingers which carry the bag in filled condition.

The griphole carrying bag shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 consists of a section 10 of a flattened side fold tube of synthetic thermoplastic material. The lower end of the section is not shown and is again closed by a heat-sealed seam, which may include, e.g., the two side folds 11. The other end of the section defines the filling opening of the griphole carrying bag. Close to this end, gripholes 14 and 15 are provided in the bag walls 12 and 13, respectively. In this embodiment, the griphole carrying Patented Feb. 7, 1,957;

bagy has also external reinforcing elements 16 and 17. Ditferent from those in the rst embodiment, these reinforcing elements are angle sections. The flange 18 of the angle section of the endless reinforcing elements forms the heat-sealed portion whereas the other flange 19 has an outside surface which forms adjacent to the grip a fnger-engageable surface. In this embodiment too, the reinforcing elements will not bite into the lingers which carry the bag in lled condition.

What is claimed is:

1. In an open-ended shopping bag of heat-scalable material having a pair of opposite walls, each of which is provided with a griphole and an external reinforcing element heat-sealed to said walls adjacent each of said gripholes; the improvement that each of said reinforcing elements comprises at least one flange-like portion extending outwardly from and at a right angle to the respective bag wall and forming a finger-engageable surface along the edge of said griphole, and a second portion of smaller thickness than said flange-like portion, said second por- 20 4l further comprises an additional flange-like portion adjoining said second portion and extending parallel to said first flange-like portion, thereby forming a channel shaped element, the web of which is formed by said second portion.

3. The bag of claim 1 wherein said elements are angle sections, one section of which is formed by said flangelike portion, and the other section of which is formed by said second portion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS l,l90,492 7/1916 Way 229-54 1,418,001 5/1922 Kniep 229-54 1,451,652 4/1923 Eisenhart 229-54 2,138,451 ll/l938 Holmes 229-52 3,008,837 1l/196l Kaplan 229-54 X 3,140,038 7/1964 Laguerre 229-54 3,208,660 9/l965 Brieske 229-53 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE O. RALSTON, Examiner.

D. T. MOORHEAD, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN AN OPEN-ENDED SHOPPING BAG OF HEAT-SEALABLE MATERIAL HAVING A PAIR OF OPPOSITE WALLS, EACH OF WHICH IS PROVIDED WITH A GRIPHOLE AND AN EXTERNAL REINFORCING ELEMENT HEAT-SEALED TO SAID WALLS ADJACENT EACH OF SAID GRIPHOLES; THE IMPROVEMENT THAT EACH OF SAID REINFORCING ELEMENTS COMPRISES AT LEAST ONE FLANGE-LIKE PORTION EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM AND AT A RIGHT ANGLE TO THE RESPECTIVE BAG WALL AND FORMING A FINGER-ENGAGEABLE SURFACE ALONG THE EDGE OF SAID GRIPHOLE, AND A SECOND PORTION OF SMALLER THICKNESS THAN SAID FLANGE-LIKE PORTION, SAID SECOND PORTION BEING HEAT-SEALED IN PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP TO SAID BAG WALL AND ADJOINING SAID FLANGE-LIKE PORTION AT A RIGHT ANGLE THERETO. 